Cypriot Court Reinstates Abramovich-Linked Firm to Recover €14 Million Unpaid VAT from Yacht Scheme

• A Cypriot court reinstated a dissolved company linked to Roman Abramovich to recover 14 million euros in unpaid VAT.
• The company, Blue Ocean Yacht Management Limited, was owned by Abramovich’s offshore trust.
• Blue Ocean contested a 2012 tax order for over a decade before being dissolved in 2024.
• An investigation revealed Blue Ocean set up a fake superyacht-leasing business to evade tax.
• The company managed Abramovich’s superyachts, which were exempt from EU tax for commercial use.
• The court ruling followed an application by Cyprus’ tax commissioner to restore Blue Ocean.
• The tax commissioner is considering criminal proceedings against former directors.
• Lawmakers criticized tax officials for not collecting the unpaid tax after a long legal battle.
• Blue Ocean’s appeal against the VAT bill was dismissed by Cyprus’ Supreme Court in 2024.

Source: occrp.org

Note that this post was (partially) written with the help of AI. It is always useful to review the original source material, and where needed to obtain (local) advice from a specialist.

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